Disc Degeneration Surgery

Back Surgery Information

Disc Degeneration Surgery

Disc degeneration is most often caused by the normal process of aging and is one of the more common causes of back pain. Even though disc degeneration can occur anywhere along the spine, it most often occurs in the lower back. Disc degeneration disease usually exhibits no symptoms but patients will sometimes complain of chronic back pain that is tolerable but may spread to thighs, hips or buttocks. Pain often results from spinal nerve decompression and spinal structure instability.

Disc degeneration surgery is one of the treatment options for disc degeneration. However, it is usually considered as a last resort when more conservative treatment methods have failed to provide pain relief. Conservative treatment options include physical therapy, anti inflammatory drugs, spinal manipulation, spinal injections and traction. These treatments can be used by themselves or in combination of more than one method.

In most cases, pain alone is not sufficient for a doctor to consider disc degeneration surgery as the best treatment option for his patient. Surgery is a good option when body function is impaired and therefore quality of life becomes an issue.

Deciding on disc degeneration surgery is a very big decision and should not be taken lightly. One of the reasons for this is this type of surgery is very serious and will require significant recovery time. Any person considering surgery will need to educate themselves on disc degeneration surgery. It is also of great help to discuss with the doctor the risks and benefits of surgery.

A major benefit of disc degeneration surgery is that unlike more conservative treatment methods that simply aim to improve functionality and reduce pain and therefore do not address the disc degeneration, surgery goes to the source of the problem by tackling the degeneration and thereby reversing the degeneration by removing the problem disc.

The type of disc degeneration surgery to be performed will depend on the area in the spine the degenerating disc is located. For instance, for disc degeneration in the lower back, the most common surgeries performed are artificial disc replacement and lumbar fusion spine surgery.

The different types of disc degeneration surgeries are categorized as either decompression surgeries or stabilization surgeries. A decompression surgery is done when the surgeon removes tissue that is causing the nerve compression while stabilization surgery is performed when the surgeon takes measures to correct any structural instability in the spine. It is quite common for the two procedures to be performed at one surgery.

Most of the time disc degeneration surgery is performed from the back but in some cases when the spinal cord is in the way, the surgeon will perform a decompression surgery from the front (anterior decompression). Our website has a large amount of information on herniated disc back surgery for anyone who would like to browse our selection of articles.